Digital BW, The Print

>> "Mark McCarvill" <espresso_forte@...> wrote:
>
> I'll probably go with Carbon-6, but I still need to
> find a supplier of glycerol.
> 

I ordered from the link that Paul provided. 

The gallon is by far the most economical, but it is much more 
glycerine than most folks will need. To mix up 250ml of each ink 
dilution to fill a set of 7 - 220ml carts, for example, you need a 
total of 1.25 liters of base: glycerine, water, and Photo Flo. That 
comes to about 350ml of glycerine. If you would like some glycerine 
to do  testing for now I will be glad to send you a small bottle.

I simplified the mixing process for myself. I reverse-engineered 
Paul's formula to specify the amount of Eboni and base needed for 
each ink dilution. That works around the "waterfall" approach of 
mixing the previous ink with additional base to get the next ink 
dilution, etc.

For future batches I am going to start with a set of bottles, put in 
the amount of Eboni required for each dilution, and then add base to 
make the required quantity - 1 liter, or whatever the desired amount 
of ink is.  

But I have about 7 different versions of the spreadsheet right now. I 
was up until 4am last night creating formulas for 3 different 
potential mixes of dye and pigment inks, etc.  I will post a cleaned-
up and documented spreadsheet next week. In the meantime let me know 
if you want a copy to use for mixing and I will send one.


> I just need someone to post a good Eboni-6 or Carbon-6
> QTR profile for Premier Imaging Smooth B&W or even
> EEM (hint, hint!), because I don't have the tools
> (or skill?) to make my own profiles. 
>

I have the tools, not the skill. ;>)  

You are welcome to copies of any of my curves or ICC profiles at any 
time. If you don't have the ink yet I would suggest that you wait 
until you actually need them, as I will continue to tweak/improve 
them.  In the meantime you can look at Paul's curves and 
documentation to get a feel for the inks and process.

I have an i1 spectrophotometer.  I created a curve for EEM in QTR 
using the 21 step ramp and 6 channels. It is fairly smooth, though I 
have not had a chance to validate it using the 51 step ramp yet.  

I haven't had a lot of time with the inks. For the last couple of 
days I have been printing a variety of 22x26 inch or larger images to 
get a feel for the ink set. I have been using some older scanned 6x7 
color negatives and slides mixed to B&W, scans of 645 B&W film, and 
digital capture converted to greyscale.  

I love the ink set and prints, though I always hate my own 
images. ;>) Tyler's image looked fantastic on Moab Entrada Bright 
White using the base EEM curve. Beautiful, rich, dark blacks that 
just suck you in.  Not too warm on that paper.

I am taking pain pills for my back, so my short term memory sucks and 
I get a little lost in what I am doing at times (or I procrastinate, 
or just plain distracted - I am supposed to be working on taxes right 
now.) So it all a slow process, but I am having fun.

Feel free to e-mail if you would like me to send anything.

Best,
Michael